4 Ways to Turn Your Writing Struggles Into Stories

Sometimes, it’s easy to identify what your character’s struggle with. Other times, it’s something shadowy lurking under the surface. Today, Young Writers Program Participant Amanda Harrison offers some tips on turning that struggle into a narrative arc:

1. When you’re about to begin writing, make sure you have a plan.

You don’t necessarily have to go into it with a strict day-to-day agenda, because that can take away from the fun of writing, but it is important to have a general idea of the characters in your story and what direction the conflict is going in.

A good way to start organizing your ideas and elements of your story is to have some sort of notebook devoted to it. Having a specific place to keep everything about your book can help you straighten out any information that doesn’t exactly match up, fill plot holes, and keep track of all the important aspects of your story (characters, government and/or magic systems, places, etc.). After having everything in your story written down is when your writing becomes easier.

2. Don’t make a story without a conflict or a goal your protagonists are working for or against. 

If you’re having trouble coming up with your main character’s struggle in the story, take a look at their insecurities and faults, and you will most likely be able to come up with your story’s problem easily.

In my current story I’m working on, I’ve had trouble thinking of my conflict, but after taking a break from writing and going back to my story’s outline and my character lists, it’s become easier to think of a conflict and execute it in my story. I took a look at my protagonist, Jacob, and tried thinking about his personality. Jacob’s main fear is having the people he cares about taken away from him. Two parts of the conflict I have are him having to leave his family for good, and having an outside force take away his new family/friends.

3. Shake it up! If your story is boring to you, it’s not going to be exciting for your readers.

It’s not that the story itself is bad, but without your conflict, your story won’t develop well. If you do have a conflict in mind, but are still in the exposition or rising action, try adding in backstories for less important characters who might play a crucial role in the story later, or write a bit about the villain in your story.

Another thing you can try is creating a side story for your main characters; showing how they got where they are today. And don’t let us forget about everyone’s favorite thing to write: plot twists. If you’re having trouble writing, try putting yourself in your readers’ shoes. Think of something your characters wouldn’t do; a sort of rebellion, an action that would throw everyone in your book off guard. 

When you’re writing, lead your audience away from the plot, make them think they know what is going on or give them a sense of closure on the subject, drop a few subtle hints the readers will notice after reading the twist, then drop that reading bomb on your readers!

4. And lastly: don’t stress!

Remember, you should be writing because you enjoy it! Don’t make a goal too monumental for yourself, in terms of your schedule, and how much you as a writer are able to write.

Amanda Harrison is a 13 year old writer, and is about half way through her first rough draft of her novel she’s writing, using camp Nanowrimo (although it’s mostly her procrastinating and talking to her cabin-mates from Cricket) Amanda also writes on Cricket Magazine’s ‘Chirp at Cricket’ website. On her free time, you can find Amanda playing piano or ukulele, playing basketball, or singing whatever Broadway song is stuck in her head at the top of her lungs.

Top photo by Anna Samoylova on Unsplash.